Down A Different Path
by Aila Pemaryn Allen
Summary: Danny was only four years old when there was a terrible accident that killed his parents and big sister Jazz, leaving he and his baby sister Emori, to be taken in by their parents' college friend. Vlad Masters is stunned to discover the love of his life and her family have met their end, and he is now a proud new father of a shy three-year-old and her very protective older brother.


**Chapter One**

 _Those blue eyes. Always so kind. So full of life. But suddenly, all he saw in them was fear._

Vlad sat up in bed with a gasp. His breathing was labored and a fine sheen of sweat covered his skin, causing his silver hair to stick to his neck and face and the cool silky sheets to cling to him. He groaned and flopped back down against the pillow.

Ten years.

It had been ten years and he was still waking up in the middle of the night because of the same _stupid_ dream!

It was always the same. He'd be standing there, staring into the ghost portal prototype questioning whether it would actually work. He'd hear Maddie's sweet voice behind him telling that _oaf_ that the calculations weren't right. And said oaf would completely ignore her, exclaim something idiotic, and flip the switch.

Then the flash.

And the pain.

Then he'd turn around, and be torn apart. Not by the accident. That would have other effects. No, he was pained the most by the look in a pair of blue eyes that he loved so dearly. Her eyes. Eyes that used to sparkle with life and intelligence, now only reflected fear.

Fear... of him.

Vlad sighed and reluctantly got out of bed. He knew it would be awhile before sleep found him again so he donned his robe and slippers and made his way down the hall of his grand house to his favorite room. The library. When he entered, the room glowed with the warm light of a large fire that crackled happily in the grate. He settled himself in his usual high backed armchair and picked up the book he had discarded earlier that evening.

He sat reading for some time, when suddenly the sound of the phone on his desk at the other end of the room ringing startled him. Rising, he padded the short distance and lifted the receiver to his ear.

"Masters. Do you have any idea what ti-" he began but was suddenly halted by the voice on the other end of the line.

"Mr. Masters, I apologize for the lateness, but something's happened."

….

"Jack, do you really think it's such a good idea to let them play in there?" Maddie Fenton asked her husband as she glanced worriedly at her son, four year old Daniel, and youngest daughter, three year old Emori, as they sat, blissfully ignorant, in the floor of the non-operational ghost portal playing with a few miscellaneous toys.

"Relax Mads, they're fine." Came the reply, her husband not even bothering to look up from where he sat, hunched over, working on the newest weapon in the Fenton artillery. Maddie sighed and shrugged before turning back to her own experiments.

"Mommy!" Sounded a voice from the top of the basement stairs, "Can you come help me?"

"Sure, Jaz, Sweetie!" The older woman stood and climbed the stairs to assist her eldest. "What seems to be the problem?" She asked as the two redheads wandered away.

Jack grumbled as he fiddled with the new gun. As he reached for a different tool, he bumped a screwdriver with his elbow and sent it rolling across the worktable and into the floor where it disappeared into the shadowy space underneath. The orange jumpsuit clad man sighed and kneeled down to hunt for the missing utensil. He found it moments later, but that wasn't all he discovered. Reaching far into the back he pulled out two corresponding ends of two different power cords leading in different directions.

"These should be connected." The Fenton patriarch spoke quietly to himself as he plugged one into the other. After that was accomplished he stood, placed the screwdriver and the newly joined cords on the workbench next to the ghost-blaster's ectoplasmic core, and paused as his stomach growled. "Huh, must be time for some fudge!"

With those sentiments he scampered up the basement stairs and into the kitchen, not once stopping to recall that his youngest daughter and only son were still playing together and he was leaving them unsupervised.

"Danny, whewe'd Mommy and Daddy go?"

Daniel looked up from his spaceman action figure at the sound of his little sister's voice, and looked around the lab. "I don't know, but don't wowwy Emmy, they'll come get us soon. Or maybe Jazzy."

The four year old gave the younger girl a comforting smile and went back to playing with his favorite toy. Emori stood up and began to wander around the wouldbe ghost portal, running her hand along the wall as she ventured deeper in. To her imaginative three year old eyes it was like a great metal cave where anything could be lurking in the shadows. Soon her eyes met with a noche in the wall that housed two buttons, one red and the other green. She liked the green better and stood on her tiptoes to get a closer look. It had a word above it! She had seen her mommy teaching Danny and Jazzy to read when she wasn't helping her with her lettered so she decided to ask him what it said.

"Hey, Danny? What does O-N spell?"

"It spells 'on' Emmy." Again her brother looked up from his toy at her, but this time when his eyes met hers, instead of offering her a smile, his eyes grew round as he watched her reach for the pretty green button. Mommy and Daddy had always told he and the girls not to touch anything in the lab. Not wanting her to get into trouble, he scrambled up from the floor, spaceman completely forgotten, and lunged for her. "Emmy, no!"

Emori's tiny finger pushed down on the button just as Danny's hand grasped her arm. Suddenly, there was a great flash all around them, and all Danny could do was hug his baby sister tightly to him before the air erupted in a loud boom and everything went black.

….

When little Emori Fenton had pushed the button that activated the ghost portal, an electrical current surged along the power cables and extension cords coming from the machine, including the one Jack Fenton reconnected and then so carelessly laid upon his workbench. There were many experimental chemical solutions sitting on that metal countertop, as well as components for a new ectofiltrator and ectoplasm samples, the new ghost-blaster, and it's ectoplasmic energy core. When the electricity hit the metal table on which it all sat, everything overheated and caused a massive explosion. It destroyed the basement laboratory and disrupted the entirety of Fenton Works right through to the foundation.

Needless to say, the whole building collapsed within moments, presumably killing everyone inside. After many days spent excavating the brownstone's remains, the bodies of Jack, as well as Maddie and six year old Jaz were found in the midst of what had once been the main floor of the house. Many more passed, and the workers began to wonder if they would ever find what was left of the youngest two of the household…

Finally, on the fifth day, the tides turned.

….


End file.
